Ammunition chest



Nov. 2, 1948. w. c. BROGA AMMUNITION CHEST Filed July 28, 1944 Patented Nov. 2, 1948 (Granted under the act of March 3, 1383, as

,amended Apri; 3o, 192s; 37o o. G. 17575) 7 Claims.

The invention deseribed herein may be manu- .faotiired and used by or iol' the Government ,for 4ne.vermnental purposes, without the payment .to me of any royalty thereon- .'.lhis invention relates to improvements in ammunition ohests for maehine guns- It is realined that ammunition ohests for .maohine guns have heretofore been made both rior unassisted .ammunition ohests, whioh normally eonsist oi box-.like reoeptaoles ier .storing arn- ,munition belts and from whioh the aetion oi the nun withdraws the ammunition unassisted, and for assisted ammunition ohestsy .in whioh a sprintr or springs assists in moving the ammunition toward the diseharee slot and thereby de oreases the drag. on the ammunition belt. so that it is .safely within the limit oi the mao'hine-suns pulling oapaeityi .It is well lsnown that ammunition Chests of the unassisted type are o f very limited eiieotive oapaoity partieularly .beeanse oi the drag Caused by'pnlllne the ammunition belt through' an eX- ,ofessive distanoe and .heightin order tooveroome this objectionable drag, it `has been customary to apply or use springs in various Ways in order to assist the movement of the ammunition belt towards the discharge slot and thus increase the efieotive earryine and delivering eapaoity oi the ohost,-

In this Way, the amount of ammunition that may be stored and effectively delivered .from an ammunition chest is considerably increased. `lowever, at the same Itime both the size and weight of such chests are obviously increased and chests of the prior art of equal capacity f having these aforementioned lspring arraheeinentsf have vbeen oonsiderably more oomplioated and more expensive to manufaoture all of whioh., of course, maires them objectionable.

1t is -therefore one of the principal purposes of this invention to .provide an improved ammu- .hltieh @host for inauhnefeuns that will not only more eiectively store and deliver a considerably greater amount of machine-gun ammunition than the euriently used types of unassisted ohests but whioh will be .proportionally lighter in ,weis` smaller siafe and less expensive, and less oornphoated to nianuiaoture than the so- -ealled springassisted .Chests of the same ea- "paoityf '.ilhe .speoiiio nature of. .the invention as well as obieots and advantages thereof will .Clearly a ear Vfrom Aa deseription oi Ya. preferred embodint as shown .in the .aoeoinpanyine diavvines in pinion Fle- 1 is a longitudinal seotional view .through eonstruotion embodying the features of the invention.

Fie- 2 is a seotional view .on the line P'lf2 .of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a partial top elevational view with the cover removed.

In Fie- 1 there is .shown in assembled relation an ammunition @nest embodying the ,spendo novel features oi this .inven..on The `ohest oomprises a oase member l provided with a .dover .i attached thereto by means of any desired type oi hinge s and there may loe a snap iastener, such as el, for holding the closure in place;

The longitudinal ,section of l, as in Fig. l. shows it to .be ,the ,form roi obligue paralf leloeram- .It is to be understood that 'while aooording to the preierred embodiment the oase has aoute anales' oi approxi. Mtely 1.3 degrees, this anale may be anywhere between say 90 and .60", or even less ii so desired- The case will be provided with the usual means at one Aend (the right hand end in Fiel and the .means S not .SllQWll .fili .ltttllliig l dem? to a machine nun` it lhas opposite yeitieal end ,fates or walls 5 and 5 and a bottom wall The bottom wall preferably slopes upwardly from the elm, or end 5'., at any anale `trom the horizontal, .In the end wall 5 ladlaeent the gun is provided a discharge slot 8 and a lip 9 .for purposes to .be deseribed.-

Within the oase l is `a ,Ll-shaped .liner 1 0 formed to have a bottom wall ll and side walls l2. The bottom wall or .seotion ll .of said liner .le is provided with a plurality oi Pairs .or sets oi ribs I4 andthe sidewalls .have plurality oi pairs or sets oi ribs sueh as Ido, lab leo, 15d, ,lia and *.511 The ribs .oi said .latter .pairs entend inwardly towards one another in substantially the same transverse .plane with one another as shown,

lA series or spacers such as ISa, IBI), 16o, Id, IBe, `and `I lif are provided for v assernloly in the liner as shown in Fig'. 1. These said spacers are provided with roll portions I at their bottom ends and preferably have stiieners or beads I9 at their top en ds.

Resilient'wing parts, such as 20a, 20h, 20c, 20d, 28e, and 20j, egtend outwardly from opposite vertical edges of spacers, 16a through I6f inclusive, near the topends thereof as shown. Prior to assembly of the belt of cartridges in the chest, all of the wings preferably curve slightly forward, then bend at approximately 90 forward and finally curve outward as illustrated in the case of wing 2Gb shown in Fig. 3.

Each spacer member is 'assembled in the case member I, or liner I0, by means of a pin 26, which engages the spaced ribs I4 and rolls i6 of the vspacers (see Fig. 2) forming therewith hinges around whi-ch the spacers can swing forwardly and downwardly to a forwardly'reclining position against the next forward member as shown in Fig. 1, but not necessarily backward Ibeyond the vertical position, as will appear. T-o insure the necessary stiffness required for Aspacers I6a through lf, there may be provi-ded thereon a pair of braces 21 as shown in Fig. 2.

The spacers I6 .have been designated from front to back as I6a, I6b, and IBc and so on as are the I5 series of retainers and the 20 series of wings. As shown in the preferred embodiment, the spacer I6a is two cartridges shorter and spacer Ib is one cartridge shorter than those to the rea-r; lalso wings a yon spacer Ilia are located in alignment with the second, instead of the third, cartridge down so as to prevent interference in the forwardly inclined position and also prevent obstruction of discharge slot 8 a-s will be later apparent.

It is furthermore to be understood that while the I 5 series of ribs or retainers are illustrated as being only slightly longer than wings 2U, `they In either event, liner II) `and spacers I6 may 'be made `of relatively thin sheet-spring stock, so that only very slight increase in weight results. To load the chest, the last spacer, Isf, is held upright and the ammunition .belt is placed over it with the end of `the belt extending to the bottom of the chest (Fig. 1). A loop is then formed in front of the Vspacer with the third ycartridge down, j, engaged between the pair of wings designated by 20j, expanding them and thereby locking said spacer ISf behind ribs |5f, the loop extending to the bottom of the chest and up again over the spa-cer I6e, whi-ch is next forward.

Proceed-ing in this m-anner, the chest is illled 'by looping said ammunition belt over successive spacers -to form loops therebetween. In each case, the appropriate cartridge is secured between the wings of the corresponding spacer, thereby locking the spacer in an upright position and securing the portion of the belt of cartridges in back of said spacer. When the final loop 'has `been formed in front of spacer IBa, the end of the ammunition belt is folded back above the forward spacers, where it is readily accessible when wanted.

It will be appreciated that each pair of wings are so spaced apart that when a belt of cartridges is suspended over the upright spacersV I6 et al., with a link 24 disposed 'approximately horizontally across the top of spacer, ISf, for example, then a third cartridge down, such as 25j, will be between wings 2I1j so as to spread them outwardly and in lback of retainers yor ribs I5f, so that vas long as cartridge 25 f remains in place between the Wings 20j, the said wings will engage the retainer and the spacer cannot swing forwardly but instead will Ibe vretained in upright position.

As ammunition Iis withdrawn Vfrom the chest andthe cartridge between the wings of each succeeding spacer is withdrawn from engagement therewith, the wings successively retract, clearing the l5 series of ribs and allowing the spacers to successively swing forward into a forwardly inclined position, thereby freeing the loop of ammunition that was behind the spacer. In this manner, the entire belt of ammunition is progressively released 'as needed. Furthermore, as the spacers fall forward, they form a generally upwardly curving door over which the ammunition belt is drawn so that; instead of lifting straight up, the belt is provided with an inclined support, over which the Ibelt and ammunition slide.

Since the bottom wall of the chest normally slopes upwardly away from the gun, the lower end of each spacer i-s progressively higher than the one before it, thereby holding the ammunition belt in progressively higher position as it is withdrawn from the farther end of the chest. With the floor I I sloping upwardly away from the chest at approximately 17? to the horizontal, the .pivotal center of a tent'h spacer back, in the lconstruction illustrated, would be substantially at the level of feed yslot lip 9, the low point of the auxiliary fioor lbeing not 'more than four cart-ridge spaces below that level, hence the lifting" factor would be substantially eliminated for cartridges drawn from the rear portion of the chest", i. e., from greater distance from the cartridge rfeed slot. This creates a mechanical advantage which tends to neutralize the drag caused by'incr'ease in distance, thru which ammunition has tobe withdrawn and greatly increases the'amount of ammunition that can be efficiently fed from an unassisted chest.

While the preferred embodiment is shown as having six spacers accommodating loops of about twenty ycartridges and the upward slope ofthe bottom of the chest is shown as approximately 17 from the horizontal, it is to be distinctly understood that these gures in no'way limit the application of the Iinventionwbut rather only exemplify it, and that they may be varied in any way without departing from the scope of the invention. Y

It is also 4to be understood, that an Iammunition chest embodying lthis invention is equally applicable t-o a belt consisting of metallic links or a fabric belt. Furthermore, 'any increase in the slope of the bottom 0f the -chest will tend to increase the possible length of the chest from which ammunition can be effectively withdrawn, but yat the same time, an excessive length of chest will require a support of some conventional form in order to support the greater weight at one side of ythe gun.

It is apparent, therefore, that the construction shown and described will serve to accomplish the objects stated above, but that said constructions disclosed are merely illustrative of the invention and not limiting, as various modifications therein may be made without departing from the invention as defined by a proper interpretation of the claims which follow.

I claim: v

1. An ammunition chest for a belt of cartridge comprising in combination, a case member including vertical side walls and a bottom wall extending therebetween, said side walls having a. plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed, inwardly extending spaced vertical ribs, a plurality., of transversely disposed spacers having their lower ends pivotally mounted adjacent said bottomwall intermediate said pairs of vertical ribs for pivotal movement, said spacers being constructed and arranged to form a series of supports for' a' belt 0f artrdaesfsuspended sin :locas therebetween, each of Isaid spacers having `ra pair of oppositely z iisp'ofs.ed' resilient wings adjacent `the upper end tufrebf, said wings beingfconstructed'and arrange'dto be pressed outwardly by the belt of cartridges engaged therebetween, said wings engaging vsaid vertical ribs in ktheir said outwardly pressed position, thereby flocking said spacers in .uprliglltpoxsition J' 4 2'. Anamrnunition chest for a belt of cartridges comprising in combination, a ease member including a bottom wall, vertical side walls and a forward end wall, said forward end wall being adapted to be secured to a machine gun, said bottom Wall sloping upwardly away from said forward end wall, a plurality of transversely disposed rearwardly spaced spacers having their lower ends pivotally mounted adjacent said bottom wall for pivotal movement forward from normally vertical positions, said spacers being constructed and arranged to form a series of supports for the belt of cartridges suspended in loops therebetween, each of said spacers having a -pair of oppositely disposed resilient wings adjacent the upper end thereof, said wings being constructed and arranged to be pressed outwardly by the belt of cartridges suspended over said spacers, and means within said case member cooperating with said outwardly pressed wings for respectively locking said spacers in vertical position.

3. An ammunition chest for a belt of cartridges comprising in combination, a case member including a bottom wall, vertical side walls and a forward end wall, said end wall being adapted to be secured to a, machine gun, said bottom wall sloping upwardly away from said forward end wall, said side walls having a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed, inwardly extending spaced Vertical ribs, a plurality of transversely disposed rearwardly spaced spacers having their lower ends pivotally mounted adjacent said bottom wall intermediate said pairs of vertical ribs for pivotal movement toward the machine gun from normally vertical positions, said spacers being constructed and arranged to form a series of supports for the belt of cartridges suspended in loops therebetween, each of said spacers having a pair of oppositely disposed resilient wings adjacent the upper end thereof, said wings being constructed and arranged to be pressed outwardly by one of said cartridges, said wings engaging said vertical ribs in their said outwardly pressed position, thereby locking said spacers in upright position.

4. An ammunition chest for a belt of cartridges comprising in combination, a case member including a bottom wall, vertical side walls and a forward end wall, said forward end wall being adapted to be secured to a machine gun, said side walls having a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed, inwardly extending, uniformly rearwardly spaced vertical ribs, a plurality of transversely disposed spacers having their lower ends pivotally mounted adjacent said bottom wall intermediate said pairs of vertical ribs to form a series of supports for the belt of cartridges suspended in loops therebetween, said bottom wall sloping upwardly away from said forward end wall whereby said spacers are mounted in progressively higher relation rearwardly, said spacers being constructed and arranged to successively pivotally move to a forwardly reclining position, to form an auxiliary floor, each successive spacer forming a floor portion of decreased slope and increased height for slidably supporting the belt of cartridges in its withdrawal movement into the machine gun, and

means ,constructed and arranged to cooperate with Kthe belt of cartridges for locking said spacers iin vertical position A behind said vertical ribs.

5. Arrammunition chest for storing andsup.- plying a vbeltof .cartridges to a machine gun comprising in combination, a IcaseIrnerknber including a bottom wall, vertical" side walls and a forward @ad wall-adapted t@ be ses-:urge to machine-gun, said side walls having a series of `voppositely dis,- posed, inwardly extending, uniformly rearwardly spaced vertical ribs, a plurality of transversely disposed spacers pivotally mounted adjacent said bottom wall intermediate said vertical ribs to form a series of supports for a belt of cartridges suspended in loops therebetween, said spacers being provided adjacent their upper ends with oppositely disposed forwardly extending resilient wings, said wings being constructed and arranged to be pressed outwardly by a cartridge in the belt of cartridges suspended over said spacers, said wings in their said outwardly pressed position engaging said vertical ribs to lock said spacers in vertical position, said bottom wall sloping upwardly away from said forward end wall whereby said spacers are mounted in progressively higher relation rearwardly and thereby successively pivotally move to a forwardly reclining position, to form an auxiliary floor, each successive spacer forming a oor portion of decreased slope and increased height for slidably supporting and guiding the belt of cartridges in its withdrawal movement from the chest.

6. An ammunition chest for a belt of cartridges comprising in combination, a case member including vertical side walls and end walls and a bottom wall extending therebetween, the forward of said end walls having a cartridge discharge slot at the upper portion thereof, said side walls having a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed, inwardly extending spaced Vertical ribs, and a plurality of transversely disposed spacers having their lower ends mounted adjacent said bottom wall intermediate said pairs of vertical ribs for pivotal movement between an upright position in which said spacers are retained by said pairs of ribs and a forwardly inclined position against the next forward spacer when said spacers are successively released from behind said pairs of ribs, all adapted and arranged whereby said spacers in the upright position serve as supports for holding the belt of cartridges suspended in loops therebetween and in the forwardly inclined position serve as an auxiliary oor for slidably supporting the loops of cartridges in a vertically decreasing slope with respect to said discharge slot.

7. An ammunition chest for a belt of cartridges comprising in combination, a case member including vertical side walls and end walls and a bottom wall extending therebetween, the forward of said end walls having a discharge slot near the upper end thereof, a plurality of transversely disposed spacers having their lower ends pivotally mounted adjacent said bottom wall for successive pivotal movement toward said discharge slot, and means for temporarily retaining said spacers in an upright position, said spacers constructed and arranged to be successively released from behind said retaining means whereupon said spacers pivot forwardly to form an upwardly curving auxiliary floor for facilitating the slidable passage of the cartridge belt through said discharge slot, said bottom wall sloping upwardly away from said forward end wall whereby said spacers are mounted in progressively higher relation rearwardly to decrease the amount of cartridges lying beneath the horizontalplane of said discharge slotas the Y UNITED STATES PATENTS unsupported length of the cartridge belt is in- Number Name Date y creased by the successive inclination of said 1,227,439 Hngendorf May 22,191.7

spacers. Y

Y WILSON C BROGA. 2,110,160 Larsson Mar. 8, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS REFERENCES CITED Number Country Date The following references are of record in the 52,425 Switzerland \Mar. 8, 1910 le of this patent: 557.685 Great Britain Dec. 1. 1943 

